Today’s typical classroom is far more diverse and complex than ever before. With the ever changing standards, methodologies and strategies, teachers breathe life into them and navigate a lot of disparate personalities and various backgrounds, interacting with each other, in any way. (Sagor, R. 2000) Lately, there have been contentious discussions on the key issues of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, immigration and other dimensions of diversity and social dominance and its implications in education and schools. But one thing is clear: when diversity comes to town, we are all challenged to grow.
Schools have always the potential to become a central point of connection with the community, and one that can help to better cement its social fabric. (Burridge, N. 2009) Rapidly changing demographics demand that we engage in a vigorous, ongoing and systematic process of professional development to prepare all educators in the school to function effectively in a highly diverse environment. Schools that experience rapid demographic shifts can meet the challenge by implementing five phases of professional development namely; building trust, engaging personal culture,
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A celebration of diversity recognizes different behavioral expectations, different ways of defining success, different patterns of socialization and different ways that parents are involved in the education of their children (Stanton-Salazar. 2001; Valdes. 1996). A celebration of diversity means that teachers will accept different types of behavior in a classroom and will not make assumptions about students’ abilities without thoroughly knowing each student’s cultural background and experiences. It also means teachers will get to know their students’ home and community cultures and appreciate diverse ways of teaching and learning that might be found in their students’ culture. (Romo, H.